Award Description:
To be given to the wrestler who brawled his/her way through the year most
convincingly. This award would go to Frank "Bruiser Brody" Goodish if he
were still around. In 1994, this award was split into two: North American
and Non-North American. In 1998, it was recombined.
Previous Winners:
1991: Stan Hansen
1992: Cactus Jack
1993: Big Van Vader
1994: (NA) Cactus Jack
1994: (non-NA) Stan Hansen
1995: (NA) Cactus Jack
1995: (non-NA) Stan Hansen
1996: (NA) Mankind (Cactus Jack)
1996: (non-NA) Terry Funk
1997: (NA) Mankind
1997: (non-NA) Stan Hansen
1998: Mankind (Cactus Jack / Mick Foley / Dude Love)
1999: Mankind
2000: Mick Foley (Cactus Jack / Mankind)
**2001**: Stone Cold Steve Austin
299 first place votes
299 second place votes
287 third place votes
154 47 12 935 Steve Austin
26 52 30 346 Triple H
14 34 41 254 Rhyno
24 16 25 218 Bradshaw
11 21 14 146 Undertaker
8 22 20 146 Rock
8 13 14 107 Raven
3 10 12 69 William Regal
4 6 12 62 Chris Benoit
2 6 10 48 Kurt Angle
0 6 13 44 Kane
3 6 4 41 Scott Steiner
1 6 8 39 Shane McMahon
2 6 5 38 Masato Tanaka
4 4 2 36 Faarooq
1 4 6 29 Albert
3 3 2 28 Tomoaki Honma
2 3 4 27 Bubba Ray Dudley
5 0 0 25 Kaoru Ito
1 3 5 24 Steve Blackman
3 1 2 22 Rob van Dam
0 4 5 22 Tommy Dreamer
3 0 0 15 Big Show
1 2 2 15 Riot
1 3 0 14 Kazunari Murakami
1 1 3 14 Sandman
0 0 6 12 Test
1 0 3 11 Lioness Asuka
2 0 0 10 Adam Pearce
1 1 1 10 Satanico
0 3 0 9 Abdullah Kobayashi
1 1 0 8 Toshiaki Kawada
1 1 0 8 Hardcore Holly
1 1 0 8 Akira Hokuto
0 2 1 8 Haku
0 0 4 8 Tazz
1 0 1 7 Kintaro Kanemura
0 1 2 7 Ryuji Yamakawa
0 2 0 6 Lady Victoria
0 2 0 6 Aja Kong
0 0 3 6 Tajiri
0 0 3 6 Atsushi Onita
1 0 0 5 Wifebeater
1 0 0 5 Vader
1 0 0 5 Thug
1 0 0 5 NecroButcher
1 0 0 5 Gedo
1 0 0 5 Brooklyn Brawler
0 1 1 5 Mima Shimoda
0 1 1 5 Booker T
0 0 2 4 Shadow WX
0 0 2 4 D-Von Dudley
0 1 0 3 Mammoth Sasaki
0 0 1 2 SUWA
0 0 1 2 Norman Smiley
0 0 1 2 New Jack
0 0 1 2 Mike Awesome
0 0 1 2 Goldberg
0 0 1 2 Danger
RYAN HALL: HHH, Austin, Regal. HHH can now brawl with the best of 'em.
Regal underrated.
EDDIE BURKETT: Steve Austin and Triple H had some good brawls together,
and even had some good brawls apart. Raven had a brief, but enjoyable run
as Hardcore Champion.
VIKRAM BIRRING: Raven's innovative matches always fascinated me, but
obviously the WWF became tired of his act. Tommy Dreamer and New Jack are
simply out of control, but they are done.
SCOTT CRAWFORD: I was crushed when they ended the Fun Brothers/Island Boyz
feud early this year because of Kane's injury. I may be the only one. I
was SO up for a major league, months-long slow, plodding Samoan bladefest
of a feud that it defies description, AND it would've kept Poochietaker
away from the genuinely good workers (Haku aside. It's a shame his hair
wasn't nominated for "best worker"...)
DEAN RASMUSSEN: NecroButcher RULED in the IWA-MidSouth King Of The Deat
Match Tournament and in the other tapes from IWA-MS that he appeared on.
He's got a real zest for dying for your pleasure and also knows how to
make the whole thing work as a wrestling match. Abdullah Kobayashi Jr
rocked in the fire match and in most other things I saw in the stunted Big
Japan promotion. Lionness Aska will still kick your teeth in.
CHIP BOOTS: Austin has shown he can do any style, but he's at his best
brawling.
MARKUS: If you're gonna book brawls, these 3 do it the best.
SCOTT WORDEN: :( no more Mick Foley to vote for.. Well, rock you moved
up.. Austin and Triple H both move up to .
CHRIS BIRD: Anybody else think that over the past two or three years, this
award has gotten really superfluous? Practically the entire WWF brawls
now, and lots of them do it well, and lots of them do it in the main
event. The days when Mick Foley was head-and-heels above the rest are long
gone. That having been said: Austin, HHH, Rhyno.
CANZ: Satanico is the abusive grandfather you are glad you never had. The
man bleeds buckets and turns any brawl into a heated demonstration of pure
hate.
SHOCKER 2K: Brawling is what Steve Austin does best, and he is the best at
it as well.
DONNY L: No one brawls like Stone Cold, Triple H is a close second
PETER HAZLETT: What happens to the man-beast now that the alliance is gone
and he has no title?
ESTRAGAND: The Rock as best brawler. he doesn't wrestle, he throws 50
right hands a match.
JOHN C.: With no Mick Foley around, this award goes to Steve Austin. His
brawls are interesting because of the little things he does between
matches to keep us entertained. You never get bored during an Austin match
because he's always thinking of a new idea to keep your attention. The
Rock and HHH round out the top three mainly because they have done the
best job of adapting the WWF brawling style that was created by Foley &
Austin.
BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: This somehow seems a harder category to vote for
without Mick... Raven and Rhyno were both fine Hardcore champions, so they
get one and two. Austin gets third. (No vote for RVD -- he isn't really a
brawler, in spite of his eternal Hardcore title reign)
YNAE316: Triple H: The Game Chris Benoit: Not called the "Wolverine
Machine" by Tazz for nothing... Rhyno: GORE, GORE, GORE!!!!
SHANE SPEAR: The Undertaker may have slowed down a step or three over the
last couple years, but he still always has to be considered for the top
spot in the brawling spot. He usually doesn't need any weapons or
anything, it's just the fact that outside the ring he can pound the crap
out of anybody. Steve Austin is the same way, only he usually had a chair
or something in his hands this year. Plus, he was so brutal that he tried
to break Kurt Angle's neck on the outside with a piledriver. Bradshaw
also defines the brawler personality with his bad-ass attitude and rough
clotheslines. I wish I could've put a hardcore champ in here this year,
but strangly, none of them stood out as really being BRAWLERS.
RYAN FAULCONER: The two brawls I saw from Kaoru Ito this year are enough
to get her first. Kazunari Murakami is such a psychopath that he turns any
match into a wild orgy of violence which gets him second. Steve Austin
wishes he was Mima Shimoda becausee she gets third.
THE CUBS FAN: Remember Jerry Flynn and the Block? I didn't vote for him
but I wanted that mentioned. Thank you.